


Bullet For Them (Hard To Do)

by troubledsouls



Series: The Alien And The Flower [2]
Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Blood, Internalized stigma, josh stims a lot, patrick punches Josh in the nose at the beginning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-07
Updated: 2016-01-07
Packaged: 2018-05-12 10:46:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5663419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/troubledsouls/pseuds/troubledsouls
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Josh was hiding in the bathroom, babbling to himself, rubbing his fingers across his snapback as Tyler and Patrick had a fight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bullet For Them (Hard To Do)

Josh was hiding in the bathroom, babbling to himself, rubbing his fingers across his snapback as Tyler and Patrick had a fight. Blood dripped from his nose and onto his shirt, but he didn't care. 

Tyler was screaming, but luckily he’d have a whole day to rest his voice before the next concert. Patrick was speaking calmly in contrast. Josh could tell because it went quiet and then Tyler was yelling again. 

Something that sounded like a body slammed against the door, and Josh's babbling rose in volume, the movements of his fingers became harsher. 

The yelling died down, and then it was just Tyler's scratchy, worn-out voice. “Josh?”

Josh ignored him. 

“Josh, please unlock the door.”

“Go away.” Intelligible words found their way out. 

“Josh, I'm sorry…”

Josh's babbling died down, but his fingers continued to move. “I wanna hear Patrick apologize.”

“He's not the type to apologize.”

“Then go away.” Josh jammed his hat onto his head and stood up, grabbing some tissues from the box on the sink and dabbing at his nose. Blood soaked into the white. 

“Josh, I'm so sorry my control slipped and he hurt you.”

“It's okay.” Josh gently touched his nose, wanting to stim again but knowing that he had to clean himself up first. Function before mental illness, his mom had always told him. Doesn't matter what you need to do for it, seeming to be normal is more important. Tyler told him that was absolute _bullshit_. Josh only sort of believed him. 

“Is it broken?”

“No. Just bloody. You must've been holding him back.” Josh blinked slowly, staring at his reflection in a mirror. “He's done worse.”

Tyler shuddered. “Please open the door.”

“Okay.” Josh dropped the bloody tissues into the trash can and unlocked the bathroom door, opening it to reveal an exhausted-looking Tyler. 

Tyler immediately held out his right hand and Josh took it, beginning to trace along his fingers and the lines in his palm. 

They stood there like that, losing track of time until Josh was completely calm. 

“We good?”

“We good.”

* * *

Josh's social anxiety and general anxiety were both getting to him in the interview. He drummed his fingers on his leg and fidgeted, trying not to take his hat off and stim because he's not supposed to be mentally ill. 

Tyler wasn't having the best of days either, his slightly hoarse voice telling of that, but he was handling the interview and answering the questions. There's no joking between the two, nothing of Josh's voice, just Tyler and long explanations. 

The interviewer could apparently tell that something was wrong. “Okay, so I'm gonna skip a couple questions and go to this one. How did you two meet?”

Josh looked over at Tyler, who suddenly seemed more energized, if only slightly. “We met in the middle of a forest. It was dark, and raining, so it was all spooky.”

“Jim.” Josh added, which made Tyler laugh. 

“So, we didn't meet at first. Actually, we went into the forest from opposite ends. Josh was really loud going through the forest, so I could hear him from the other end, and I thought ‘who could possibly be that loud?’”

Josh's lips twitched upwards in a small smile. 

“So I went, and I found this guy crashing through the forest, and I asked ‘why are you so loud?’” And he said…”

“I'm trying to attract squirrels.”

“And so I said, ‘seems legitimate… Do you wanna start a band?’ And that's how we met.” Tyler smiled at the interviewer, holding out his right hand to Josh. 

Josh took it gently and began to trace along the edges of the palm.

* * *

They have a couple days off during tour, and they're gonna film a music video. 

Blurry was busy putting in his red contacts, trying not to let his eyes dart around like usual. He was going to be out for the entire video, an unreleased single that would drop with the music video. No album attached to it, just something fun. 

“Josh, I'm nervous.” Blurry said, lowered voice a contrast to his anxious tone. 

“You'll do fine, promise.” Josh said, hand running along his snapback.


End file.
